​What is EarningStation?

EarningStation is a paid survey and reward site that was founded in 2011. It pays its users for taking surveys, signing up for affiliate offers, watching video. They even offer cash back on some gaming and shopping purchases. Users can cash out their earnings via gift cards for merchants and cash via Paypal or Visa gift cards.

Like most survey and reward sites, their business model is based on rewarding users for engaging with their affiliate partners. They reminded me of sites like Swagbucks and Ipsos i-Say, who similarly offer a variety of methods for users to generate cash for surveys and signups.

Is EarningStation legit?

EarningStation is legit, though that doesn't mean they haven't gotten any negative feedback. If you check out SurveyPolice, you'll see a ton of both positive and negative reviews. Most of the negative reviews are from people who have been disqualified from taking surveys. While this a very frustrating experience and limits your earning potential, it doesn't qualify as a scam.

That said, there were a few instances were users claimed they weren't credited for taking a survey. While that likely wasn't intentional, it's still a bad user experience on their part.

Getting started with EarningStation

Getting started is easy, with two different ways to sign up. You can sign up with your email address or you can link through your Facebook page. I signed up with my email address. After sign up, you click through the confirmation link in an email they send you to confirm your email address.

Once on the site you'll be asked to verify your account using your cell phone. A code is texted to you which you can enter into the onscreen prompt. This offers another layer of security then just your email, which is a great thing!

How EarningStation works

EarningStation’s dashboard promotes seven ways to make money on their site: offers, surveys, games, videos, shopping, clipping coupons, and referring your friends. You can also earn a bonus after you continue a streak of earning at least .25 cents each day. The first bonus is $1 after a 10 day streak. After that, each time you earn the bonus it grows.

Ways to get paid with EarningStation

Signing up for other offers: Signing up for offers allows you to earn cash for signing up with other survey sites like OpinionNetwork, buying a product or signing up with a company like Barkbox or Proactiv. In addition you can sign up for a free sample sites like Samples & Savings.

Taking paid surveys: Paid surveys offer a few cents to a few dollarsfor each survey, depending on the length and survey offered. They are hosted on sites like Samplicio.us. If you qualify for the survey and complete it you can earn the amount offered.

Playing games: You can earn cash back on games that you play through their links to their partner GSN (Game Show Network) and Worldwinner. Once you fund your account, EarningStation will give you 20% back or a flat fee bonus offer.

Checking out videos: Watching videos for money is a breeze. Simply click on a category of videos that you are interested in (travel, technology, news, movies, etc) and get paid to watch.

Shopping through the site: Shoppingthrough EarningStation’s link for Groupon earns you 5.5% cash back on your purchase.

Saving coupons: You can clip coupons from Coupons.com and get paid 2 cents for printing 25 coupons, which you can print and earn daily.

How much can you earn with EarningStation?

Your earnings are based on how often you qualify for surveys, as well as your shopping habits, gaming habits, and your interest in their third party offers. Surveys shown on the site appear to have a fairly high payout of up to $6.60 for a 15 minute survey.

My experience in clicking through the highly paid surveys wasn't great. All the ones I clicked on gave me a message stating that I did not qualify. After that I was redirected to another page of offerings. However, this time with a lower payout for a 20 minute survey.

What are EarningStation bonus codes?

One bonus is the $10 you get for signing up for five other survey sites . This is an easy way to pile up cash for your first gift card. While not as large as some of it competitors, EarningStation still has more than 40 different offers. Most were between $.50 to $1 for signing up.

On the other hand, those requiring a purchase offered a payout of $2 to $12. Getting cash back on your shopping and gambling purchases is only worth it if you were planning to buy those items anyway, same as buying partner offers for the cash bonus.

You can also earn by doing tasks like printing coupons is $.02 for printing 25 coupons per day. You can watch videos as well, but it only pays $.02 for every 10 videos watched.

What are EarningStation referral codes?

Referring your friends is super easy and your dashboard includes a unique referral code you can share. If your friends sign up you earn 10% of their earnings through the site for life.

How does EarningStation pay out?

EarningStation offers cash-out in the form of merchant gift cards like AMC, Macy’s, Amazon, and Walmart. Additionally, You can cash out via Paypal or Visa gift cards.

The first time you request a payout you have to request a physical card to be mailed to you to verify your address. After that, you can request digital gift cards for the merchants that offer those. Gift cards are available in increments of $10, $25, and $50.

In addition, you can cash in earnings for a 34oz branded water bottle, available in both orange and blue.

Pros and Cons

Pros of EarningStation - It's easy to earn extra cash

Easy to earn: It is easy to earn a little extra cash taking surveys or signing up for offer. You won’t get rich, but $20 isn't bad.

Low effort: It won't take you much time to answer a few surveys, watch some videos, and try out some cool new products. The $10 threshold to cash out is also low so it doesn't take forever to cash out.

Bonus Incentives: EarningStation awards a bonus cash incentive for completing offers daily. They'll pay you at least $25 if you continue in a streak for 10 days in a row. They also offer a $10 bonus for signing up for 5 other survey sites.

Disadvantages - EarningStation doesn't pay much for tasks

Limited options: There aren't a ton of offers available for sign up. Some of the smaller offers like printing coupons could cost you more than you earn, when you factor in printer paper and ink, since you only earn 2 cents for printing 25 coupons. On the other hand, MyPoints offers 1 point per coupon printed and 25 points per coupon redeemed.

Qualifying is difficult: Unlike its competitors, EarningStation does not offer reward for attempting to complete surveys. Cash back offered is only for gambling online or shopping at Groupon.

Other survey sites like EarningStation

If you're looking for other sites like EarningStation, we'd recommend checking out these survey and rewards sites.

Wrapping up our EarningStation review

Due to the less then stellar payouts, EarningStation isn't the first place we'd recommend. But it's a good option to supplement what you earn with sites like InboxDollars and Swagbucks.

They offers multiple opportunities to earn and low payout thresholds, but it's hit or miss to qualify for survey. This can make it hard to hit the $10 payout threshold. If you are interested in the signup offers, you can make some easy cash for signing up for stuff you would have signed up for anyway.

If you appreciated our EarningStation review, check out of our other survey and reward site reviews. We take the time to provide you with unbiased reviews so you can make the best use of your valuable time online and use it to make some extra cash in your pocket easily and quickly!

About the Author

Hello, I'm Ryan Rollins. I've been passionate about personal finance and entrepreneurship for as long as I can remember. After earning my Bachelors of Science in Business and Marketing, I soon found myself at my first software start-up. That experience led to me earning my MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Louisville, and eventually to a career in the fintech industry focusing on educating consumers about the importance of being financially resilient. Learn more about me here, and you can also follow me on twitter @TMPF_Ryan and Linkedin.